Contacted by the Pennsylvania State Police Lancaster Barracks to respond to Lincoln Highway and Newport Road in Salisbury Township for a tractor trailer that was loaded with fruit and had overturned.

One of our personnel arrived on the scene moments after being contacted by the State Police.

Based on the information given to us by the State Police and our person onscene, it was determined that the trailer was severely compromised.

With this information, we dispatched three of our heavy duty sliding rotator recovery units, our skid steer loader, and Landoll trailer. Our reefer trailer and air cushion recovery unit were placed on stand-by. Additionally, we contacted Null's Recovery & Site Restoration for one of their incident response units, dump trailer, and excavator.

Upon arrival, our lead operator found a T-680 Kenworth tractor pulling a 53' reefer trailer was travelling westbound on Lincoln Highway from Gap Newport Pike when it failed to properly navigate through the intersection of Lincoln Highway and Newport Road. The unit overturned and struck a pedestrian crosswalk traffic light control pole. The unit continued on it's side for several truck lengths before striking a second traffic light pole. This light pole was embedded approximately 6-8' into the front wall of the trailer. Approximately 20' of the trailer's roof had torn loose, and the back doors were knocked away from the walls. The reefer unit was broken loose from the trailer. The walls were torn away from the floor. The tractor's front axle was knocked loose, there was a minor fuel leak from the tractor which was contained by the Fire Department. The cab's suspension was broken from the frame, there were several broken crossmembers on the tractor. The unit was completely blocking east and west lanes of Newport Road.

Based on the severity of the damage to the unit it was determined that the unit would have to be off-loaded prior to uprighting.

At this point, the air cushion recovery unit was cancelled. The reefer trailer was dispatched to the scene along with two of our rollbacks to transport the reefer unit, front wall, and back door frame and ICC bumper. Additionally a roll-off dumpster was dispatched to the scene.

It was found that the trailer was loaded with a mixed load of different varieties of fruit. The load had been stacked floor to ceiling and front to back. The load was compromised, however a majority of the load appeared to be salvageable.

Our lead operator spoke with the driver and requested that he contact his company to find out how they wanted the load handled. After several minutes, the driver advised that his dispatcher was requesting that we save as much of the load as possible. The health department was contacted and gave the go ahead to attempt to save the load.

Laborers, in addition to the laborers already onscene, were called to the scene to assist with hand unloading and restacking the cargo.

Two of our portable light towers were set-up to provide a safe work zone for the crews working.

It was quickly noticed that due to the damages to the boxes it would be difficult to restack the load in the manner that it was originally stacked. At that point, a second reefer trailer was dispatched to the scene.

NR&SR excavator was used to hold the driver's side wall, which was the wall towards the sky, to prevent it from falling on the laborers as they removed the load.

Two assembly lines were formed from the trailer to the area which pallets were set-up. The fruit was passed down the line, out of the trailer, and then stacked on the skids. As boxes were found that were crushed beyond being able to be restacked, they were placed into bagsters so that they could be transferred to the dumpster.

The skid steer loader worked to carry the skids to the replacement trailers as the laborers repalletized and wrapped the load.

Once the skids were loaded into the replacement trailers, two laborers worked utilizing a pallet jack to position the skids in the trailers.

While the laborers were working at removing the cargo, two of the heavy duty sliding rotator recovery units worked to separate the truck from the trailer. This had to be done due to the reefer unit being torn loose. The tractor had to be winched backwards and lifted to relieve the pressure from the tractor's fifth wheel. Once the pressure was relieved, the fifth wheel was able to be released from the king pin. With the fifth wheel now released, the truck was lifted and winched forward clear of the trailer.

The two rotators rigged to upright the tractor and set it back onto its wheels.

Once the tractor was on it's wheels, the rigging was removed. The rotator at the front lifted the front of the truck and rotated it onto the roadway. The third heavy duty sliding rotator recovery unit hooked to the front of the tractor and prepared to tow it from the scene. The tractor was towed from the accident scene back to our Cochranville facility.

The two heavy duty sliding rotator recovery units still onscene prepared to recover the trailer. The trailer would have to be winched back away from the traffic light pole prior to being uprighted. Rigging was connected to the back of the trailer so that it could be winched back.

Once the offload process was finished, the trailer was winched back away from the traffic light pole. Once clear of the pole, the two rotators rigged the trailer to upright it. The skid steer loader was utilized to assist with lifting the reefer unit as the trailer was being uprighted.

The trailer was uprighted and lowered back to its wheels.

The rotator at the front of the trailer, was rigged to the reefer unit and lifted it clear of the trailer and set it onto the shoulder of the roadway to later be loaded onto one of the rollbacks.

The roof and the wall was secured for transport from the scene. One of the rotators hooked to the front of the trailer and prepared to tow it from the scene.

The trash, bagsters, and damaged cargo was placed into the dumpster. The dumpster was transported back to our facility to later be transported to the landfill. The skid steer loader was fitted with the street sweeper attachment and utilized to sweep the roadway.

The reefer unit and front wall were loaded onto one of the rollbacks. The back door frame, back doors, and ICC bumper were loaded onto the second rollback.

All of the cargo that was repalletized was loaded into the two reefer trailers.

All of the equipment onscene was reloaded and secured for transport from the scene.

Our equipment cleared the scene. The trailer and cargo were transported from the accident scene to our Cochranville location.

Once back at our facility, the equipment was unloaded, fuel, and prepared for the next call. The tractor and trailer were placed in our storage yard.

Both reefer trailers were checked, fuel level verified, and ensured that cargo temperature was being maintained.

All of the rigging utilized during the recovery was cleaned, inspected, and returned to its respective location. All of our equipment was now ready for the next call.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE GAP, KINZER, AND CHRISTIANA FIRE COMPANIES PERSONNEL FOR ALL OF THEIR HELP ON-SCENE WITH THE CARGO OFF-LOAD AND TRAFFIC CONTROL! IT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!